Wednesday, July 3, 2013

My Disney Store Order :)

At last, I get to share with all of you my latest order from the Disney Store! :) I ended up snagging my laptop from home, so I'm sitting here at my mom and dad's kitchen table, typing away. It feels like I'm back in college or something...except that I didn't blog then and my laptop was way clunkier. ;)

I've decided that I'll make this a series of three posts so that I can give my newest Belle and my newest Rapunzel their own posts. This first one will be an overview of my order and show you the other two things I purchased.

So, here's my box of happiness, just waiting to be opened. ;)

I was a bit concerned when I saw the state of the box. As you probably remember, I've had issues with squished doll boxes from the Disney Store before, so seeing the outside of the box so crunched didn't give me much hope for the products on the inside. :(

I find it interesting that the Disney Store has changed its packaging so that all of the pictures are in the inside. It's kind of a fun surprise when you open that plain brown box and have the blue and white colors and Disney characters staring up at you. ;)

So first off was my beautiful new Rapunzel doll. :D I can't wait to share this review with you! :) As you can see, her box was open and just a bit squished, but the condition was not as bad as it could have been. Thankfully I debox my dolls, so this wasn't a problem. For those of you who like your dolls mint in box, however, I'd suggest picking your doll out at an actual store location, just in case.

I LOVE what they did with her face this year. I think is my favorite Rapunzel doll to date...but more on that in a later post. ;)

And here's my new Belle with a box that's open and pretty squished. :{

I was worried when I saw that the plastic of Belle's box was pressed up right against her face, but thankfully she didn't have any noticeable damage when I opened her. I'm not quite as thrilled with Belle's new face as I am with Rapunzel's, but I'm still glad I got her. :)

When I was about to check out, I noticed that the mini magnetic Duffy the Disney Bear was on sale for $3.99. I saw his measurements and realized he'd be just the right size for the 18" dolls, so I decided to add him to my cart. ;)

For those of you who don't know, Duffy is Mickey's special bear, given to him by Minnie as a traveling companion. He's usually found at the Disney Parks.

Duffy had his whole story printed on his tag (you can click on the pictures to make them bigger):

Duffy's body tags

He has magnets in his "hands" and also in the sides of his feet.

He has a cute little face, too.

And as you can see, he's the perfect size for the 18" girls. :)

The other thing I added to my cart at the last minute was this Rapunzel Tower Playset. I'd seen this in the Disney Store when I went to visit my friend in Nevada and I've wanted to add it to my collection ever since. I remembered that some of the reviews I'd read in the past were negative, so I didn't want to spend the full price on it. When I saw it was on sale for $9.99, I thought it might be worth trying.

The back of the box.

Originally priced at $24.50.

Everything the set includes

The packaging was fairly uncomplicated, so it was pretty easy to get everything out of the cardboard.

Here is the playset free from the packaging.

It came with mini colored pencils...

...and a little Tangled-themed notepad.

And of course, a little mini Eugene and Rapunzel, which was pretty much the whole reason I wanted the set. ;)

The tower looked great all free from the cardboard and accessories.

But unfortunately, I couldn't get it to close all the way. I was afraid if I forced it too much, I'd break it, and this was as far as I could get it without applying brute force.

It opened at the top and bottom and also included two drawers.

I loved how the top of the tower included actual artwork from the movie.

Another look at Rapunzel's paintings.

The bottom of the tower had these little holders for the colored pencils.

The colored pencils also fit in the bottom drawer.

And the notepad fit perfectly in the top of the tower.

Things were looking pretty good so far, so I moved on to the mini characters. And that's when everything went downhill...

It started when I took a good look at Eugene's face. Um, slight quality control issues with his eyeballs? :}

Rapunzel's face, on the other hand, was really adorable.

Eugene was articulated at the hips and shoulders, but his joints were so stiff that I was afraid I was going to end up breaking off his legs. If I had given him to one of my daughters to play with, he would have been broken within minutes.

It looked like he might have a swivel waist, but when I tried to move it, it wouldn't budge. I decided that his waist didn't need to move, even if it was supposed to. It was a better option than having a Eugene in two pieces. :}

And I didn't remember him being this hunched over.

Apparently Eugene didn't practice good posture in his youth or something... ;)

Since Eugene was such a disappointment, I moved on to Rapunzel, hoping for something better. I decided to take her cloth skirt off so I could see how she was articulated. As I did so, I noticed that her right arm was really loose and the plastic seam in her shoulders had a gap in it.

I guess I shouldn't have been surprised when she suddenly fell apart, but I must admit it still startled me. Apparently I'd held her just a bit too far forward.

I was able to place all of her body parts back in their places fairly easily...

But when I tried to put the chest plate back, I couldn't get it to close completely.

I was so disappointed in her quality because I loved her face, and look at the beautiful way they did her braid!

I was able to get her together for a brief period...

...but it wasn't long before she was in pieces again.

And so, I'm going to be making my first Disney Store return by mail. If the tower had closed properly and if Eugene's eyes had been painted correctly I might have been tempted to just glue Rapunzel together and keep everything. But because of all the problems it had and the fact that I had spent $10, I decided it was best to send it back. This set is still available online and is now on sale for $5.99. If I had spent that much in the first place I might have been more tempted to keep it and repaint and glue things since I had other things I was ordering. But I wouldn't recommend paying the price plus the $5ish shipping it would cost to get this set alone, even though it's been so highly discounted.

My original plan was to compare this Eugene and Rapunzel to my mini Mattel versions, but when Rapunzel had fallen apart the second time, I figured it would be better to just package everything up as best as I could before I lost any pieces.

So, a rather disappointing review, I know, but I figured it was important for you guys to know about the lack of quality in case you were tempted by the low price. I didn't read the reviews this time around, and I should have, because it sounds like the 15 customers who left reviews had similar experiences (you can read them on the page I linked earlier). :( It's really a shame, because usually products from the Disney Store are not this poorly made.

Next up will be my review and comparison of my new Belle doll, so "stay tuned". ;)

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About Me

I'm a stay-at-home mom with 3 little girls, happily married for 13 years to my high school sweetheart, and most importantly, a Christian. I love singing in my church, spending time with my family, and fixing up TLC dolls. I'm also hoping to eventually become a published author, but we'll see what the Lord has planned.
The other blog contributors on my team are Tess, Maggie, and Emma, my 18" dolls who write on "Jane Austen and Unicorns" about their adventures, and Belle, my 12" Disney fashion doll who shares her life stories on "Belle's Bulletins".